You Serious Clark? A Family Christmas Vacation Trip Nov/ Dec 2017

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply but I am getting back on track with this PTR from the Photobucket fiasco!

BOG lunch and ohana- 2 of my faves! I think it's so cool that you're going to do Pirates League!

I loved the Hollywood & Vine Christmas dinner when I went, so fun!

All of your plans sound great!
I can't wait to try O'hana for the first time! I also am looking forward to H&V again!

Joining in your plans look like a lot of fun. We will be there the same time.
Glad to have you along!!
 
Finally got all of my original images changed over to Imgur. :teeth:
Now On With the PTR!

Are You Surprised Clark??
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From the title I guess you can gather things really didn't go as planned... Once discounts were released last week I had a hunch we might have to move to a Deluxe Studio at one of the villas due to the lack of availability at the main lodge. Which in my mind I had already planned for and was ok with since we were booked in a Bunkbed room. With it only being me, Carol and one of the girls in the room I wasn't looking forward to sleeping on a bunkbed. What I didn't plan was that a discount wouldn't be available for our entire stay, meaning we would have to do a split stay. I was chatting with @ariane37 on and off that morning without having much luck for availability. Not to mention the DTA website was having glitches and the hold time was upwards of 90 mins. Eventually we got everything straightened out and we now doing a split stay with a discount for 11/26-12/1 at
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:jumping1:
We have the Deluxe Studio with walk in shower option booked.
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I am very excited about staying in the new villas! I am not necessarily worried about he second bed being a pull out couch compared to the bunkbeds we were originally booked. I am hoping they won't be too bad since they will still be pretty new and if all else fails I will crash with my MIL. :rotfl:
For the second part of our stay Ariane was on the case with the DTA to shorten our original reservation to 12/1-12/4. Welllllllll apparently the Wilderness Lodge is enforcing a 6 night minimum stay for reservations... :confused3 So she switched us to Copper Creek for the remainder of the stay! I am hoping if we like the location of our room at check in we can request to stay in the same room for the rest of the stay! And a special THANK YOU again to @ariane37 for being awesome and helping me out big time!!!

Now that everything was finally straightened out with the package reservation I had to work on our pre-package room only reservation. I applied the discounts to both rooms. After all was taken care of I totaled everything up and we weren't saving as much as we had hoped to on the package due to the lower discounts Disney released. So I called Carol to Discuss our options. I had a hunch there wouldn't be a discount for our arrival night on Friday. I was right and at first we were ok to pay that extra money but with the smaller discount we decided to do something cheaper that first night.
Our options are...
A. Book Friday at a value. Possibly All-Star Movies
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My thinking is its the cheapest option on property for that night. We will catch the ME let them deal with luggage. Sleep and get up early the next day, have Bell Services transfer our luggage to POR while we head to Epcot and just return to POR to meet up with he rest of our group that night.

or

B.
Book a room close to MCO.
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I found an Embassy Suites that was about $30 cheaper than All-Stars. Butttttttttt we would get off the plane, possibly have dinner in the airport, have to catch our own luggage, take it to the shuttle for the hotel, get to the hotel, sleep, deal with our luggage back to the shuttle, get back to MCO and take us and our luggage to the ME, and then deal with our own luggage to check in and leave with bell services to head on to the park. See where I am going with this? The extra $30 isn't sounding so bad at this point. I had actually chose the Embassy suites because of the free hot breakfast. But i am sure at this point I will be wanting to get to Disney as fast as I can!

I haven't actually booked either just yet but plan to make up my mind in the coming week. I know in reality we will be checking in 4 times to 3 different hotels. Which for 2 adults will not be horrible. I will be packing accordingly so I won't really deal with my big luggage until we get settled at Copper Creek.

Any advice is welcomed! :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

I also got
this cute shirt in the mail this week from Cafe Forty Seven! it will be my arrival day shirt!
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Crazy changes!

Glad you got everything worked out, but weird about WL. Is it a seasonal thing, ya think? Cause that'd be a bummer if that was a new rule across the board there.

I gotta say, I know the Embassy Suites is cheaper, but it sounds like a hassle. I'm usually on board for savings, but I say you go with the Disney resort.

LOVE the shirt!
 
Just caught up on your PTR and definitely in for the long haul!

As you can tell by the title we are Christmas Vacation fans in this family. So what better way to name the official Christmas trip.
"Save the neck for me Clark!" ADR's Continued.

I LOVE the Christmas Vacation quotes! Its a must-do Christmas movie in my house and it has been for years so I'm already obsessed with your PTR and eventual TR!

This day is still really up in the air because I haven't got to talk with everybody about the Candlelight Processional. I know it is something Carol and I want to do.

I never had much interest in the Candlelight Processional in the trips we took during the Christmas season but last year, my mom and I were offered 2 free tickets to it (serious Disney Magic in my opinion) while we were wandering WS. It turned into one of my favorite memories from the trip. It was absolutely stunning and the entire experience was just so wonderful. I say regardless what anyone else wants to do, you should definitely go see it with whoever wants to join!

So she switched us to Copper Creek for the remainder of the stay!

That's so amazing and I'm incredibly jealous! Just from the pictures I've seen, Copper Creek is gorgeous and I can't wait to see how you like it in your TR!

I haven't actually booked either just yet but plan to make up my mind in the coming week. I know in reality we will be checking in 4 times to 3 different hotels. Which for 2 adults will not be horrible. I will be packing accordingly so I won't really deal with my big luggage until we get settled at Copper Creek.

Any advice is welcomed! :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

I know checking in and out of resorts is a lot to deal with but I think the peace of mind just knowing you're already on property and won't have to worry about transportation and luggage and all that would be worth it. Plus I'm the kind of person that once the plane lands I NEED to get to Disney ASAP to feel like my vacations begun.

I also got this cute shirt in the mail this week from Cafe Forty Seven! it will be my arrival day shirt!
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This shirt is too cute and just so appropriate for arrival day!:earboy2:
 
ventually we got everything straightened out and we now doing a split stay with a discount for 11/26-12/1 at
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:jumping1:
We have the Deluxe Studio with walk in shower option booked.

YAY! The rooms look beautiful! Hopefully they'll let you stay in your room.

But i am sure at this point I will be wanting to get to Disney as fast as I can!

Hmmm. Tough call about the first hotel night...but I know I'd be like you and want to hurry up and get to Disney already... hmmm...
 


I thought we decided you were going to stay on property your arrival night :rotfl2:
I LOVE that shirt! I swear some of you guys find the coolest shirts on these sites, now I have to go check that one out even though I'd never get it in time for this trip!
 
YAY! The rooms look beautiful! Hopefully they'll let you stay in your room.



Hmmm. Tough call about the first hotel night...but I know I'd be like you and want to hurry up and get to Disney already... hmmm...
I am pretty sure that's what we are going to do just haven't got around to booking it yet.

I thought we decided you were going to stay on property your arrival night :rotfl2:
I LOVE that shirt! I swear some of you guys find the coolest shirts on these sites, now I have to go check that one out even though I'd never get it in time for this trip!

I know I know... I'm too indecisive at this point...

Joining in!

Have you really planned a Disney trip if there aren't some seriously major changes??:rotfl:

I LOVE that shirt! So so cute!:lovestruc
Glad to have you! I know it's not a Disney trip unless you change your mind 1000x lol!
 
Another Disney Trip...Why Not??
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I am going to pick up with a mini PTR for our September Trip!


The Who: My Cousin Chelsy and I!
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We figured since we still have our AP's until December we might as well use them for another week!
The When: September 12-19 aka 34 days!!!
The Where: All-Star Movies- We booked preferred with an AP discount this time since we are flying! I am hoping to be in the Toy Story Building.

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The How: AHHH We are flying! I'm not a HUGE fan by any means but the price was right! Actually a lot cheaper than driving when you think about milage and etc!
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We will be flying Southwest out of Nashville, TN which is only 2 hours away from home. I have a good friend who lives 3 minutes from the airport who said we could park at her house and call an Uber since she will be at work. Score! And Yay for Southwest because of the 2 free checked bags and the fact I am a horrible packer. Which leads me to I got a new piece of luggage in the mail today!
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I already have the Minnie Dots in the Spinner and carry-on Spinner. I didn't plan on buying another but I had to order for my MIL and I have been on the look out for a just plain cheap one so I didn't have to borrow one. It was only $63. I think I will get my use out of it over the next year. Worst comes to worst I can sell it on a local marketplace board. I originally took the Minnie dots back in April. It is the best luggage I have ever owned and HUGE! Also very lightweight for the size!

Chelsy has never flown and is quite nervous. I am also nervous because I have to be the brave one this trip unlike November where I will have my MIL to lean on. Hopefully it will go smooth!
We will leave home pretty early Tuesday morning and plan on being at the airport by 9:30 for our 11:45am flight. Our schedule says we will land at MCO at 2:35pm. We won't be on a time crunch to get to the resort but I made some fast passes at AK for the night. It was a party night at MK, DHS is set to close at 8:00 and Epcot had EMH until 11, which we hate. So AK it was. I was unable to get FOP for our first day but no worries we have a few for later on in the trip! Our first stop will be Kilimanjaro Safari.
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Next up will be our first glimpse into Pandora at Na'vi River Journey.
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And last I made a FP+ for Rivers of Light.
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Not so sure we will keep it. I wasn't impressed with it last time so it will be up to Chelsy.

At some point we plan on possible grabbing a quick lunch at MCO, squeezing in Everest a few times, and maybe even being crazy enough to do FOP standby at the end of the night while ROL is going on! And I see a popcorn bucket in my future!

That's all for now!
 
:thanks:Thank you so much for your love of Christmas Vacation!!!! Catching up on your PTR has made me so happy to see good ole' Cousin Eddie!

How exciting about the Villas! They look great in the pics.

I love that shirt and may have been singing the tune in my head while reading:)

Looking at your plans we are most likely going to be in AK at the same time on Dec 2!!!

Annnnd I am sooo jealous of your Sept trip!!! We are definitely not ready for an adults only trip:(

Cant wait to read along for more!
 
:thanks:Thank you so much for your love of Christmas Vacation!!!! Catching up on your PTR has made me so happy to see good ole' Cousin Eddie!

How exciting about the Villas! They look great in the pics.

I love that shirt and may have been singing the tune in my head while reading:)

Looking at your plans we are most likely going to be in AK at the same time on Dec 2!!!

Annnnd I am sooo jealous of your Sept trip!!! We are definitely not ready for an adults only trip:(

Cant wait to read along for more!

Glad to have you reading along!
We are huge Christmas Vacation fans in our house. It is on multiple times throughout the season if we can help it.
Maybe we will run into each other at AK!
I haven't been with kids in 5 years soooo I am not sure how I will deal with the slower pace this time around..:rolleyes:

This is so cute!!!

It sounds like you got some good FPs for your trip! I can't wait to hear what you think of the Avatar rides, especially since I haven't ridden them yet. :)
From what I hear from friends who have been already they say it is amazing. I am glad we scored a few FP for the week!

Yay for having another trip with Chelsy planned! Your first day sounds like it will be great!
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Yet Another Change!

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I mean what is Disney without a change!

We were able to book an earlier flight for the same price as what we were already booked at. We actually started out leaving Nashville at 5ish then bumped it to 11, and now we are leaving at 8:15 CST! Wahoooo! More Disney time!!! So our scheduled landing time is 11:05 Disney time!
Our park plans for this day have changed also...Once we arrive at AsMo we plan to hang out by the pool until our room is ready. We probably will take a short power nap if needed. I am sure it will be needed because we will be up by 4 our time. :crazy2:
We had originally planned on doing AK the first night but we decided to squeeze in some more DHS time. Last week a new dessert party was announced and I sent the details to Chelsy. We both agreed to try the Fantasmic Dessert Party and Vip seating out! :goodvibes
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I am pretty picky but most everything looked like something I would eat. Plus the price was only $39, which in Disney standards isn't to bad. At least it is worth a try. We have a few FP+ scheduled but we are going to try not to overdo it too much this night!

Day 2: Epcot/MK PM EMH
FP+: Spaceship Earth, Character Spot and a late Frozen Ever After.
Food: Snack around Food and Wine

I also picked up this cute shirt from HappilyEverTees
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At some point we plan to hop to MK for PM EMH. I hope to skip Illuminations and finally see Happily Ever After.

Day 3: MK
This is one of the few days MK doesn't have a party going on so we plan on hitting up most of our favorites on this day!
FP+: Big Thunder, Peter Pan, 7DMT
Food: Be Our Guest Lunch- I am looking forward to trying the french dip sandwich and having that awesome strawberry cupcake!

I also found this cute shirt that I will more than likely wear for our MK day!
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Obviously I will need to ride Dumbo while wearing this:rotfl:

Day 4: AK
FP+: Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, Flight of Passage
Food:I kind of want to try the new Satu'li Canteen, particularly the Beef Bowl. But I am pretty picky so it will be a last minute decision.

Day 5:DHS
FP+:Toy Story Midway Mania, Star Tours, and drumroll please......Tower of Terror! If anybody has read my previous TR you will note that I finally conquered my fear last trip! And Loved it by the way!
Food: Minnie's Seasonal Dine at Hollywood and Vine-
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We done the Christmas dinner last November and really enjoyed it. We wanted to try the Halloween dinner this year. I hope it is just as good. Either way I know we will enjoy seeing the characters in their Halloween gear. And Bonus we get a 20% AP Discount!

Day 6: AK/MNSSHP
Food: This is a new one for me! I made a 7:30 reservation for BOMA!
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I am not going to lie...I seen this picture from Boma Breakfast and I was completely sold!
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I am a sucker for pancakes...especially with M&M's!

After we stuff ourselves with breakfast we really only have plans to ride FOP with our FP+ just because I hear how awesome it is! I am sure we will catch a few rides on Everest before we take a break.
We plan to take a good nap this day to rest up for MNSSHP this night.

I'll catch up with MNSSHP plans next post!
 
Trying out the new dessert party at DHS will be fun!

That Dumbo shirt is so cute!

Haha so funny, we both did the Minnie Christmas dinner last year and now we both will be doing the Halloween dinner! I too hope it's just as good as the Christmas one! The costumes are sooo cute!

M&M pancakes- woah those look good!

All your plans sound great!
 
Haha so funny, we both did the Minnie Christmas dinner last year and now we both will be doing the Halloween dinner! I too hope it's just as good as the Christmas one! The costumes are sooo cute!
I didn't realize you were going again in the fall! Are you doing a PTR? I use mobile a lot so I don't see signatures or links. I tend to miss a lot and usually accidentally stumble upon TR and PTRs.

&M pancakes- woah those look good!
I hope they taste as good as they look!
 

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